In my latest session transcribing the First World War diary of my father, Gunner Harry Whitfield Mollins, the account of his Canadian artillery battery’s advance to a “new position” in the late summer of 1916 aroused curiosity about a couple of points.
The new position was near the town of Albert in northwestern France. Several days after the move, he gets a chance to visit the town and reports on the damage warfare had inflicted on a local church and its spectacular steeple statue.
Not familiar with the town, let alone its church and steeple statue, I looked it up in an atlas and then on the Internet. What I found then, as you’ll see below the following diary excerpts, was that Dad’s entry on Sept. 1, 1916, had scooped Wikipedia and Taste-of-France websites--as well as piquing my interest as it had his more than 90 years ago.
- cm 1-8-07
Friday, August 25, 1916 Weather: Showers
Was at the new position again today. The work is proceeding fairly well. We are supposed to be making winter quarters. It is exceptionally quiet after the bombardment of yesterday afternoon and evening. Large gains are reported as a result of yesterday’s offensive. Witnessed several air fights today but saw no planes come down. Returned to camp about seven-thirty P.M. Was very tired & feeling quite “rotten” generally. Bed was a welcome relief. Oh! What would I not give to be home!
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Thursday, August 31, 1916 Weather: Rain
. . . reported large gains by the Russians. They captured 15,500 men and about 300 officers. Most of them Austrians but among them were about 1,500 Germans. Italy has declared war on Germany and Rumania has entered the war on the side of the Allies by declaring war against Austria. This means something. Four shells fell in our new position but fortunately no one was hit.
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Friday, September 1, 1916 Weather: Fine
Went to Albert today on the water lorrie for some water. This was my first trip to Albert & was very much interested in what I saw. Saw the beautiful large church now almost ruined by shell fire. On the steeple is a large gilded statue of the Virgin holding in her outstretched hands the child Jesus. It’s now tipped over at more than right angles to the steeple. The French say its fall will mark the end of the war.
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Albert, Somme, France 90 years later
From: http://www.a-taste-of-france.com/albert.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert,_Somme
Photo above from Wikipedia: Mural depicts 1916 destruction in Albert. Restored church visible.
Albert is a commune of the Somme département, in Picardie, northeastern France. Population: approx. 10,500 inhabitants. It is located a few km from the Belgian border, about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume .
Albert was founded in about 54 BC as a Roman outpost called Encre. It is remembered today as the site of the Battle of the Somme in World War I.
On January 15, 1915, in that combat, a shell struck Albert’s Basilica of Notre Dame de Brebieres, knocking a steeple statue of Mary and the infant Jesus - designed by sculptor Albert Roze and dubbed "Golden Virgin" - into a horizontal position, nearly falling. The Germans said that whoever made the statue fall would lose the war, and a number of legends surrounding the "Leaning Virgin" developed among German, French, British and Canadian soldiers. The Leaning Virgin became an especially familiar image to the thousands of British soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme (1916), many of whom passed through Albert, which was situated three miles from the front lines.
The German army recaptured the town in March, 1918, during the Spring Offensive; the British, to prevent the Germans from using the church tower as an observation post, directed their bombardment against the basilica. The statue fell in April 1918 and was never recovered. In August 1918 the Germans were again forced to retreat, and the British reoccupied Albert until the end of the war.
Albert was completely reconstructed after the war, including widening and re-orienting the town's main streets. The Basilica, however, was faithfully rebuilt according to its original design by Eduoard Duthoit, the son of the architect who had overseen its construction in 1885-95. The present statue is an exact replica of Roze's original design, and a war memorial designed by Roze and featuring an image of the "Leaning Virgin" can be seen in the "Abri" (Shelter) Museum, which houses souvenirs of the war.
The underground shelters in which the museum is located served as protective bunkers for Albert's residents during aerial bombardments in World War II. #
